6 April 2020

The International Youth and Students for Social Equality, the youth wing of the Socialist Equality Party (Australia), is holding an online meeting this Tuesday evening on “Socialist Alternative and the politics of the pseudo-left.”

The event is the third in a series of lectures being delivered by leading World Socialist Web Site writer Nick Beams entitled, “Capitalism’s war on society: Why you need to fight for socialism.” The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Australian Eastern Standard Time on the GoToMeeting app.

Beams will explain that in the midst of the deepest crisis of the world capitalist system in decades, the critical issue is the development of a mass socialist movement of the working class internationally. This task requires the exposure of all those organisations that seek to channel the working class behind one or another section of the ruling elite.

In Australia, Socialist Alternative, speaking for affluent layers of the upper- middle class, continuously seeks to promote illusions in Labor, a party of big business, and the trade unions.

The unions that Socialist Alternative supports, including the CFMMEU, are forcing workers to labour in unsafe conditions so that profits from the construction boom continue. ACTU secretary Sally McManus has joined a de facto united front with the Morrison government, collaborating with it on a daily basis as it provides billions of dollars to the banks and refuses to boost funding to public healthcare.

The aim of this government-union operation, in which Socialist Alternative is implicated, is to force the working class to pay for the deepening crisis and to suppress mounting social and political opposition.

Internationally, Socialist Alternative has promoted Syriza in Greece, Jeremy Corbyn in Britain and Bernie Sanders in the US. All of them have sought to channel mounting discontent behind the widely-despised political establishments through the use of left-populist phrases, before carrying out one betrayal after another.

Beams will explain that the fight for socialism requires an understanding of the historical experiences of the working class and an examination of the class interests represented by all political parties.

To take part in the lecture download the GoToMeeting app now and then on the day of the meeting click here. Alternatively, you can call +61 2 8355 1050 on your phone, you will need the access code 670-326-765.